


A Thrush Innocent

by JantoJones



Series: Modest Briefings (The 2nd 100) [41]
Category: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 11:40:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18249107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JantoJones/pseuds/JantoJones
Summary: A Thrush guard takes exception to losing his job because of Napoleon and Illya.





	A Thrush Innocent

Napoleon Solo sighed contentedly as he listened to the sound of the ocean gently lapping onto the sand. Reclining in a hammock strung between two palm trees, and stripped down to his shorts, he basked in the warmth of the Floridian sun. He and his partner had completed their assignment and had been given leave to stay on for an extra day. Illya himself had sought out a place from which to hire scuba equipment, and was somewhere beneath the water.

“G..good afternoon, Mr Solo.”

Opening one eye, Napoleon was greeted by the sight of an unknown man, who was standing over him with a pistol. He opened the other eye in order to get a good look at him. He was only a kid, aged about nineteen years of age, and was seemingly quite nervous.

“You have me at a disadvantage,” Napoleon stated.

“I..I’m sorry,” the stranger said, “M..my name is George Sim, and you almost ruined my life yesterday.”

With as much dignity as was possible, Napoleon managed to get out of the hammock. Ignoring the fact he had a gun pointing at him, he slowly, and carefully, pulled on his trousers and shirt. Despite appearances, Napoleon was certain the kid wouldn’t actually shoot.

“It’s not that I doubt your assertion, George,” he said, as he stepped into his shoes, “But you’re going to have to explain a little further. I was fairly busy yesterday, but I don’t recall seeing you.”

“Y..you and Kuryakin b..blew up my job!”

Napoleon frowned. He and his partner, with the back-up of local Section 3 agents had destroyed a Thrush lab, taken everyone present into U.N.C.L.E. custody. It had been discovered that the lab was developing a new missile delivery system, which Alexander Waverly was keen to stop. In the past, they had had unfortunately caused innocents to lose their jobs as a result of putting Thrush out of action, but in this case, there were no innocents. The place employed only Thrush scientists and guards.

“You worked at the Thrush lab?” Napoleon asked. “I thought we rounded everybody up.”

“I am, or rather w..was, a guard,” Sim told him. “Yesterday was my day off,”

“There are other jobs,” Solo replied.

Over the young man’s shoulder, Napoleon saw his partner emerging from the ocean. Canting his head as he took in the scene, Illya indicated for Solo not to give him away. It was unnecessary, of course.

“This is the only j..job I could get after prison,” Sim answered. “I wasn’t even guilty of what I was convicted of, but no-one believed me.”

“So why not just get reassigned elsewhere.”

“I was a guard at a facility which was infiltrated and destroyed by U.N.C.L.E.!” Sim yelled, suddenly sounding much less nervous. “Do you think Thrush will welcome me back with open arms?”

“What will killing me achieve?” Napoleon asked, wishing that Illya would approach a bit quicker than he was.

The Russian had removed the scuba tank, goggles, and flippers, and was arcing around behind Sim, in an attempt to stay out of his peripheral vision.

“I’m not going to kill you,” said the Thrush. “If I can hand you over to Central, they might reward me with a better position.”

“Look George,” Solo said, holding his hands out in a conciliatory gesture and taking a step towards him. “I don’t wish to insult you, but bigger and better men than you have tried. They all failed.”

“Don’t move!!” Sim yelled.

As he said it, an arm snaked around in front of his face, and pulled him backwards. In the same motion, Illya’s other arm grabbed the gun. He then let go of Sim, who dropped to his knees and began to sob.

“D..don’t lock me up again,” he begged. “P..please. I..I can’t do it. I can’t do it.”

Napoleon looked to Illya and silently asked ‘What shall we do?’

In response, Illya could only shrug.

............................

A week later, Napoleon and Illya paid a visit to a hardware store, owned by Jimmy Owens, a retired agent. He had a policy of employing ex-convicts, seeing it as a way of continuing to fight crime, by giving people a second chance. He didn’t even mind that George Sim had been a Thrush guard. 

“How’s it going, George?” Napoleon asked.

“I can’t thank you enough, Mr Solo,” Sim enthused. “Especially after what I tried to do to you.”

Napoleon waved the thanks away.

“I hated working for Thrush,” George continued. “I knew they were evil, but I thought it was my only option. You have given me my future back.”


End file.
